Rotary ice-breaking machine



March 17, 1925.

IIN

FiledY Nov. 29', 1922 H H YERK ROTARY ICE BREAKING MACHINE Patented Mar. 17, 1925. i

UNITED STATES PATE-Nr orifice;

HNRY H. YERK, OF DAVENPORT, IOXA, ASSIGNOR T lVlICEOy MACHINE COMPANY, 4

OF BETTENDORF, IOWAA CORPORATION OF IOWA.

'ROTARY` ICE-BREAKING MACHINE.

Application led November 29. 1922.

To all wiz om it may concern.'

Be it known that l, HENRY H. YERK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scot-t and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rotary Ice-Breaking Machines, of which the following is a. full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to ice breaking machines and more particularly to those of the type in which a rotary toothed drum within a hopper cooperates with a fixed grate or comb having teeth between which the cylinder teeth pass. It is common practice with such machines to furnish a plurality of grates, such grates having different numbers of teeth thereon to provide diferent sizes of ice such as coarse, medium and iine.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means whereby one grate bar can be quickly replaced by another, the latter having either differently spaced teeth to obtain diiferent sizes of broken ice, or the same number of teeth so that if one or more teeth of one grate is broken another grate can be supplied with a minimum loss of time and without tying up the machine until an additional bar can be secured from the factory.

A further object is to provide an interchangeable grate structure in which a series of grate bars with spaced teeth can be brought into operative position with respect to the drum and which are adapted to be rigidly held in such position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient' means for selectively changing and clamping any of the various grate bars into operative position.

A further object is to provide an interchangeable grat-e structure in which escape of ice through the hopper wall is prevented.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description and annexed drawings.

The following description and annexed drawings set forth in detail certain means embodying my invention, the disclosed means, however, constituting but one of the various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

Serial VN0. 603,933.v

Reference should be had to the anneiied drawings 4forming a part of this specifica?` tio-n in which: f

Figure 1 is a side elevation ofthe nia-l chine partly in section.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary rperspective view of the shaft and operatingA mechanism on which the grate bars are mounted.

In the accompanying drawings `1t will be.` seen that the ice breaking machine consists of a hopper 1 in which is mounted `a cylinder 2 with teeth 8 detachably secured thereto, the cylinder being driven in any suitable manner from a source of power, there being shown in the drawing a wheeli for receiving a belt, though it is to be understood that it can be driven from a motor through gearing. toward which the upper part vof the cylinder turns has a transverse rectangular slot 6 therein somewhat below the axis of the cylinder through which the grate teeth carried by a bar on/the outside of the hopperkv project.

In order to provide means for quickly changing the grate bars, a shaft 7 outside the hopper 1 is'carried by the arms 8 pivoted at 9 to the end walls 10 of the hopper.y The shaft'7 is formed polygonal in cross sect-ion intermediate its ends to furnish flat faces 12 to which are secured grate b-ars 14, 15, 16. These bars Vhave teeth 13 thereon and the latter may be differently spaced o-n each of the bars for coarse, medium and line cut ting respectively. Or if a user of this machine desires to cut only one size of ice, thev bars 14, 15, 1,6 may carry the same number of teeth and the additional bars be used for replacing worn or bro-ken grate bars.-

In order to hold any one of the bars in operative position with the teeth projecting through the slot 6 of the machine, the pivot arms 8 are clamped toy the machine by any suitable clamp such as the clamps 17 which are pivotedA at 18 to the `brackets-19 carried by the machine. lWhen the arms 8v are swung upwardly 'and clamped in position one ofthe Hat faces 12 of the sha'tt 7 is presented toward the slot 6` and the grate har secured to such face -12 is vheld tightly' against the rear` face of thehopper. with its The side wall 5 of the hopper '1- ally.

teeth 13 projecting into the hopper. AThe clamps may be operated to engage the recesses 21 in the arms 8 to preventdisengagement during the operation of the machine. -Also,'the lower ends of the arms 8 'may be connected by a bar 24 to make the vv'VVhen-it desired to VKchange-'the `grate bars'it is' only necessary` to',` unscrew the l .members 2O so that they can beswung free ofthe-slots 21'. The arms 8 `carryingzthe shaft 7 will then swing *on -r the pivots 9 until the stops 23 at the lower ends of the arms engage Vthe-inclined' wall 5A ofthe machine.

vIn thisposition `the shaft 7 can be rotated to-present any of the flat faces with its grate bar Vvtoward' the slot andthe arms .moved back and vclamped in placel with the clamps 17 as previously described.

Itv is'tobe understood, however, that if desired the 'shaft 7' and grate- `bars may be cast "integrally and operated in the same manner to bring" the lteeth intooperative position as heretofore described. i y In this case I one sacrifices the feature of interchangeability'of grate barsfor simplicity of having them all integral. v

It` will be seen that the faces of the grate bars 14, 15, and 16 are each of a width and length to completely cover the slot 6 so that there is no leakageof ice through'thez slot during the operation of the machine.' The v bodily movement of the'rotary shaft 7 permits the rotaryiadjustment thereofwithout enlarging. the slot in the hopper ltoV permit rot'ation of the tooth carrier and'mak'esit f possible to obtain the advantages of rotary adjustment j without the disadvantage of openings in thehopper wall through whichV4 broken ice may escapef `Also`,'the adjustable clamps at the ends of the arms2 8 serve to tightly clamp any oner of Ythe grate bars in place and vp`ermit"quick interchanging of the bars.v l "y i M It will'also be` noticed 'that l,thef'weight of thev shaft 7 and the 'grate bars is carried by thearms8 and that vthese parallel arms permit thegrate bar to move bodily outwardlyfaway from' the'slot until the shaft 7 isin position where it can be rotated to present any'fof-the grate bars toward the hopper. The outward movement o'f the arms 8` is stopped by the lower ends of the arms Yengaging'the walls of the machine and thus theshaft 7 with the flat faces 12 will be supported in position for easily detaching any of the grate bars from onel of the faces' or attaching a grate bar thereto.

Furthermore, it ,fistto be understood that the particular forms of apparatus shown and described, and the particular procedureA set forth, are presented for purposes of ex-k planation. and illustration and-that various modifications of said apparatus and procedure can be made Without departing from my inventionuas defined in the appended claims. 4 iWhat I claimpis:

\ 1. In anice breaker, the combination with a hopper having a rotary toothed cylinder therein anda slot in awall thereof alongside the cylinder', of a grate bar having a` face portion rigidly but-detachably clamped against the outer face lof the hopper, the faceof said grate bar beingl of a sufficient width and length to coversaid slot and en# gage the wall of the hopper surrounding the slot", said'bar having spaced teethv projecting through said slot.I 2. lan an ice breaker, the combina-tion with a hopper, having a rotary toothed'cylinder therein and a slot inthe front wall thereof alongside thecylinder, of a gratefbar havl ing a face portion adapted to be clamped 90 against the wall of the hopper on the out-` side thereof, said face portion of the bar completely covering said opening andv engaging the edge of the wall surrounding the slot, said bar havingl teeth Iprojecting through said opening, and means for clamping said grat-e bar in position. g

3. In an ice breaker the combinationwith a hopper having a rotary toothed cylinder therein and a slot in'its wall along--100 side said cylinder, of a shaft having a plurality of faces, said 'shaft being ro'- cylinder, of a Vplurality of grate vbars rotat- 1175 ably mounted and having teeth on their faces adapted to projectthrough the slot, rthe 'faces of said bars being of a width and length to completely kcover said slot and means for securing one of such faces there"- of against the wall of the hopper [outside the slot. f `v -5. In an ice breaker, the combination with a hopper having a rotary toot-hed cylinder' i therein and a slot in a wall thereof alongside the cylinder, of a rotatable shaft carry'- Y ing a plurality of grate bars with teeth projecting from the faces thereof, said shaft being swmgably mounted, and r clamping means connected to said shaft mountingand 139 hopper whereby one of said bars may be held with. its face tightly against the wall of said hopper adjacent said slot.

6. In an ice breaker, the combination with a hopper having a rotary toothed cylinder therein and a slot in its wall alongside the cylinder, of a rotatably mounted shaft outside the hopper for movement toward and from said slot, said shaft completely covering said slot when in operative position, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced rows of teeth upon said shaft.

7. In an ice breaker, the combination with a rotary toothed cylinder, of a wall adjacent the cylinder having a slot alongside the cylinder, a rotary shaft on the outer side of the wall carrying differently spaced sets of teeth adapted to be inserted through said slot, said shaft being adjustable bodily away from said wall to clear the teeth thereof to permit rotation, and means for clamping said shaft in operative position.

8. In an ice breaker, the combination with a hopper having a rotary toothed cylinder therein and a slot in its wall alongside the said cylinder, of pivoted arms mounted outside the hopper for movement toward and from said slot, a rotatable shaft carried by said arms, said shaft having faces carrying a plurality of spaced rows of teeth thereon to be projected selectively into said slot.

9. In an ice breaker, the combination with a hopper having a rotary toothed cylinder therein and a slot in the wall of the hopper, of arms pivoted to the frame of the machine, a rotatable shaft carried by said arms, a plurality of grate bars carried bysaid shaft,

means for clamping said arms to hold one of j I said grate bars tightly against the wall of the hopper adjacent said slo-t and means to stop the movement of said arms away from said hopper when said clamping ymeans is inoperative to hold saidshaft and bars for adjustment.

10. In an ice breaking machine the combination with a hopper having a rotatable drum therein and a slot in the wall of the hopper, of arms pivoted to the frame of the ice breaking machine for movement toward and from t-he machine, a rotatable shaft mounted in said arms, a plurality of series of teeth secured to said shaft and adapted to be selectively projected into said hopper ,n

when said shaft is held in operating position, means for clamping said arm to hold said shaft inwardly, means to cause said arms to move outwardly in parallelism to bodily move said shaft and means to sto the movement of said arms when the sha t has been moved outwardly. v j

In testimony whereof, I hereunto 'aHiX my signature.

HENRY H.. Y ERK. 

